From Meyer (2018).
Newborns (and adults) preferentially parse the speech signal into syllable-sized units (e.g, Bijeljac-Babic, Bertoncini, and Mehler 1993; Fló et al. 2022; Luo and Poeppel 2007; Jusczyk and Derrah 1987; Bertoncini et al. 1988)
From Fló et al. (2022).
| Structure | Onset | Nucleus | Coda |
|---|---|---|---|
| V | a | ||
| CV | t | a | |
| CVC | t | a | n |
| VC | a | n |
| Structure | Japanese | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| V | u.mi | o.jo | a.ny |
| CV | ya.ma.ha | ca.sa | fai.ry |
| CVC | hon.da | rin.cón | con.trol |
| CCVC | fres.co | fresh | |
| CCVCC | trans.por.te | shrink | |
| CCCVCCC | strengths |
Consonants are preferably grouped at syllabic onset
fNIRS: differential haemodynamic response1 to MOP+ and MOP- stimuli.
Hypothesis 1: If newborns are sensitive to violations of the MOP, the haemodynamic responses to MOP+ and MOP- words should differ (morphology of the signal).
mo.pla \(\neq\) mop.la
Hypothesis 2: If newborns have an innate preference for MOP+ structures, the haemodynamic response to MOP+ words should be greater than for MOP- words (max. amplitude, AUC, time-to-peak). (?)
mo.pla \(\gt\) mop.la
Hypothesis 3: If newborns discriminate between MOP+ and MOP- (Hypothesis 1), they do so by processing the disyllabic structure of the word (not just the first syllable).
mop.pla \(\neq\) mop
CVCCV words: Onset + Vowel + Consonant cluster (CC) + Vowel
| List | Syllabification | Words |
|---|---|---|
| List 1 | ST (CV-CCV) | MO-PLA, SA-KLO, TI-PLE, DE-KLI |
| DW (CVC-CV) | MOP-LA, SAK-LO, TIP-LE, DEK-LI | |
| DS (CVC) | MOP, SAK, TIP, DEK | |
| List 2 | ST (CV-CCV) | MO-KLA, SA-PLO, TI-KLE, DE-PLI |
| DW (CVC-CV) | MOK-LA, SAP-LO, TIK-LE, DEP-LI | |
| DS (CVC) | MOK, SAP, TIK, DEP |
MNE-NIRS (Python):